The Shores of California
by embracing-shadows
Summary: Under the sunset, four members of the graveyard shift learn that by being shared love can be kept a secret.


I own nothing but the plot!

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California was beautiful this time of year, Warrick had decided, but the days were nothing compared to the beauty of the sunset. As he stood on the balcony of his hotel room, the tall man couldn't help but take yet another contemplative look at the sky. The sun was just starting to sink below the horizon, and it gave him an idea. He turned and walked back in to the rooms that he shared with his girlfriend. No one knew about his relationship with Sara, of course, but the two of them felt that it was prudent to hide from the rest of the team. Ecklie would split them up for sure if he found out and it only took one pair of flapping lips, after all, to let a secret out. When the sheriff had announced that all the graveyard CSIs were to be awarded vacation time for two weeks, the two of them had been overjoyed. Each member of the shift had kept their vacation destination a complete secret, each wanting to completely escape the real world for the short time allowed. So it was really just that easy for Warrick and Sara to slip on to the same plane unnoticed and head to California for two weeks of fun in the sun. Together.

"Sara, where are you?" Warrick called in to the cushy set of rooms that he had, after much heated discussion, paid for by himself. Sara wanted to split the cost, but he wanted to be chivalrous. It had taken quite a bit of fast talking and not a few kisses to convince the stubborn, independent women to see things his way.

"In the kitchen." He voice floated to him from the right so he walked that way and found her standing at the kitchen counter, knife in one hand and a jar of peanut butter in the other hand. "I was just making a snack for us," she informed him. With a grin he walked over and took the peanut butter out of her hand, putting in down before taking both her hands in his.

"Come on, let's go walk on the beach while the sun sets," he requested. Her eyes softened and he grinned again. He knew that he didn't look like a romantic type of person but he was. He liked reading her poetry and watching the sun rise and fall with her at his side. Sara, of course, agreed. The slices of bread she had been about to work her almost nonexistent culinary skills upon lay forgotten as the two of them hurried from the room, taking only their card key with them.

The elevator ride was quite lengthy, seeing as they were on the eleventh floor, but it was definitely faster than taking the stairs would have been, even with all the stops for other people to get on and off. Eventually they stopped at the ground floor and, still holding hands, the two of them strolled through the hotel lobby. They had chosen this particular hotel because the lobby faced a beautiful white beach, which they now slowly strolled towards as if they had never hurried anywhere in their lives. The pavement soon gave way to sand and the two of them paused at the edge of a line of tall rocks, just admiring the sunset for a few moments.

It truly was beautiful, reds and oranges and golds all merging together to create a portrait that no mere mortal could ever hope to recreate. Not even a camera could quite capture the complete rhapsody that was nature's creation. Warrick held Sara's hand tighter, but just as he opened his mouth to say something her eyes widened as she looked past him.

"Oh my god…it's…it's _Greg and Nick_!" she exclaimed in a shell-shocked, urgent whisper. Warrick's head swiveled as fast as he could manage, and what he saw he would never forget for his whole life.

Nick and Greg were both wearing light pants, but had rolled the legs up to their knees. Neither was wearing shoes, choosing instead to carry their sandals in their hands as they let their toes sink in to the warm sand upon which they strolled. Their tops were identical as well, simple white shirts with the buttons undone to reveal their bare chests underneath. The two men were very calmly walking down the beach together under the Californian sunset, smiling without a care in the world. Warrick and Sara drew themselves back behind the tall rocks, watching, wondering why their coworkers were here _together_. They got their answer a moment later, just as the pair of men came within hearing distance of the hidden couple.

"Well of course I was right, could you expect any different of me?" Greg was saying. Nick gave him a fond look and a warm smile.

"Never," he proclaimed. "You're always right and I'm always wrong. Isn't that the way this works?" Greg responded by grinning cheekily.

"Well of course!" he said again. They both laughed warmly.

"I love you, Greg." Nick's words were delivered with such familiarity it was obvious that he'd said them many times before. Behind the rocks, Warrick and Sara started violently. Then Nick reached out a hand to stop Greg's footsteps, taking both their sandals and dropping them to the ground. They stood there together for a moment, just looking at each other with love in their eyes, before Nick took up Greg's hands. "Dance with me?" he asked quietly. Greg was silent for a moment before he smiled and nodded. With the surf crashing behind them and the sunset painting the sky above them, the two men embraced in each other and slowly swayed together, their feet making whooshing noises in the sand. They had eyes only for each other, the whole world seeming to fall away as they created their own moment of love, so pure it was a wonder they had managed to keep it a secret.

The hidden couple watched as their friends turned around and around, then they looked at each other and smiled. Instead of announcing themselves they simply stepped around the rocks without saying a word. They slipped off their shoes and Warrick took Sara's hand in his.

"Dance with me, my lady?" he asked, imitating the romance with which Nick had managed the words. His love smiled at him and they twirled off together, closer and closer until the two men so lost in each other finally noticed them. It was a credit to their love and pride for each other that they did not, as the couple had expected, immediately jump away from each other. Their dancing halted as they caught sight of Warrick and Sara, but they did not take their arms away from around each other.

"How-what are you two doing here?" Nick asked, his voice befuddled. Warrick grinned tightly.

"Apparently the same thing as you two; seeking a place where we can be in love and not have to care about anyone knowing." The dark man's words seemed to hit home in the hearts of all three listeners. Sara's eyes teared up, and Greg and Nick gave each other a long understanding look. "Why here, though?" Warrick asked. Sara had wanted a beach, and California was only one state over. Greg and Nick, however, struck him as more adventurous than just beachy kind of people. It was Greg who answered with a wry smile.

"My parents live a few blocks to the west of here." He admitted. "We so rarely get to see them." In that second sentence Warrick could detect more than he knew he was supposed to. It was obvious in just those words that they would not be going to visit Nick's parents, that the Texan's family had not accepted his choice of lover. There was also, in those words, a slight challenge, a slight questioning of whether or not _he_ would accept them. So he smiled warmly and gave Sara another twirl.

"I belief, my friends, that we were dancing. Let's continue with that before the sunset is over and we have to wait for another one as beautiful as this." The two men before him gave him smiles, but he could see it in their eyes. They knew just what he wasn't saying. He accepted them. And it was obvious that Sara did too when she did nothing but consent to once more begin twirling about on an empty beach.

And so began the beginning of a beautiful secret. Both couples knew without saying that they all wanted to remain behind the scenes, and when they all returned to the real world nothing could be said about what transpired on the shores of California. But when the morning shone over Vegas and the correct days off corresponded, the four of them would gather as often as they could to celebrate the love they had found in the most unlikely of places. The love they could shout to no one but each other. But that was enough.


End file.
